


calling

by ellie_cat



Series: manifest [2]
Category: ATEEZ (Band), ONEUS (Band), ONEWE (Band)
Genre: A Sprinkling of Other Idols, Alternate Universe - Manifest, Alternate Universe - Supernatural, Dancer Yeo Hwanwoong, Doctor Lee Keonhee, Doctor Park Seonghwa, M/M, Mystery, Police Officer Kang Yeosang, Police Officers ATEEZ, Producer Kim Youngjo | Ravn, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, The Plot of Manifest Kinda Sucks so My City Now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:22:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21662119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellie_cat/pseuds/ellie_cat
Summary: Five years have passed between the time they took off and landed for everyone but the passengers of Delta Airlines Flight 828. If that wasn't enough, strange things have begun happening to the passengers.Lee Keonhee, one such passenger and cancer research doctor, is determined to figure out what happened to him and his fellow passengers during that flight. With the help of fellow passengers Yeo Hwanwoong, Kang Yeosang, and Son Dongju, he might just be able to figure it out.If the people that don't want them looking into what happened don't get to them first.
Relationships: Implied Song Mingi/Kim Hongjoong, Kim Youngjo | Ravn/Yeo Hwanwoong, Son Dongju | Xion & Yeo Hwanwoong, Yeo Hwanwoong & Kang Yeosang
Series: manifest [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1536985
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	calling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Hi, Geonhakie,” Hwanwoong murmurs, “I hear you’ve been whining for me?"_
> 
> _“Hwanwoong-hyung!” Geonhak exclaims, voice going up a bit in his surprise, and it almost sounds like how Hwanwoong remembered it. He coughed, and then repeated, “Hwanwoong-hyung! It’s really great to hear from you. Is Batman-hyung done hoarding you all to himself?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOT BETA'D bc I was trying to get this out for you guys :,)
> 
> Character Ages (Continued) :  
> \- Yeosang : 23  
> \- Geonhak (Leedo) : 25 (technically younger than Hwanwoong)  
> \- Keonhee : 26 (technically older than everyone at 31)  
> \- Seonghwa : 28

“I hope Dongju’s alright,” Hwanwoong breathes, and Youngjo sighs, exasperated, but Hwanwoong can hear the fondness hiding behind the exasperation, and Youngjo’s own worry behind even that. 

“That is the twentieth time you’ve asked that in about as many minutes,” Youngjo reminds him, before sighing again and saying, “And for the twentieth time I will tell you that I’m sure he is. It’s not like he’s at home alone or something.”

Hwanwoong pouts, but nods, because, as always, Youngjo is right. Youngjo rolls his eyes, leans in to kiss Hwanwoong’s forehead, and then pulls his head into his chest. 

“You need a nap, is what you need,” Youngjo comments, and Hwanwoong shakes his head. 

“Don’t need a nap,” Hwanwoong murmurs into his fiance’s chest, the sound muffled further because his face is still being gently held to Youngjo’s chest. “Need to get out of here.”

“Everyone does, sweetheart, but, I agree. The people who’ve already given their testimonies should get to leave, though. It’s not like we have anything left to tell them,” Youngjo thinks out loud, and Hwanwoong nods. 

“That is a thing,” Yeosang pipes up from beside them, still not opening his eyes from where he’s slouched in the plastic chair next to Hwanwoong, arms crossed. “Usually we let people know they can go once they finish their testimony. I was surprised when they didn’t do that. Thought they were just going to make us go again, and grill us twice just to be thorough, but I asked Jongho over there earlier and he said they weren’t planning to.”

“And you didn’t think to ask about why we didn’t get to go then?” Hwanwoong asks, a whine in his tone as he finally pulls his face out from Youngjo’s chest. 

“Figured maybe a law had changed, but now that I’ve gotten a nap I see now that it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to ask,” Yeosang says, finally straightening in the chair and stretching, arms reaching above him. Hwanwoong gives him a glare, only half-seriously, before frowning. 

“You were actually sleeping? Like that?” Hwanwoong asks, and Yeosang shrugs.

“Yeah, and?” Yeosang asks, grinning, and Hwanwoong huffs. “Jealous?” Hwanwoong huffs again, but frowns, and quietly says, “Maybe so,” under his breath. Yeosang laughs before looking over to the police officer guarding the entrance of the tent they’d set up for privacy when getting people’s testimonies. 

“Hey, Jongho!” Yeosang calls, and the officer bristles, looking over at Yeosang with barely concealed annoyance. 

“Kang. Thought I told you to call me Officer Choi while I’m on duty,” Jongho says, and Yeosang shrugs. 

“You know I have a shit memory. Anyway. Are we free to go if we’ve already given our testimonies or not?” Yeosang asks, and Jongho sighs. 

“You should be? But let me ask the lieutenant,” Jongho says, before entering the tent. He comes back out hardly a minute later with an annoyed Hongjoong close behind him, whose exit from the tent immediately draws all eyes to him. He pointedly is not looking in Yeosang’s direction, even when he scans the crowd. 

“Anyone who has given their testimony already is now free to go. We apologize for the wait, and thank you for your patience and cooperation with us on this case,” the lieutenant says, and there are people who immediately start to get up. “If you’d like to leave now you can, but since there are a crowd of reporters outside, you can also wait until your escort gets here.” Immediately, most of the people who had initially stood up sat back down. Hwanwoong barely holds back his chuckle at that. Youngjo shoots him a disapproving glance but the effect is ruined by the laugh he can tell Youngjo is also trying to hold back. 

Yeosang just laughs. “Hey, you, you seem to know those officers,” Hwanwoong hears from off to his right, past where Youngjo is sitting. Hwanwoong turns, and a thin, brown haired man is looking back at him. He looks slightly annoyed, but mostly just anxious. 

“I know… some of them. Certainly not all of them. Of course new officers were added to the precinct while I was missing, but yeah, I know a lot of them,” Yeosang explains, and the man nods. 

“That’s understandable. I kind of have the same situation with my workplace at the moment. People left, new people came in,” the man says, and Hwanwoong notices his brow furrows in what seems like anger near the end, voice taking a hard edge before he takes a breath and shrugs. “Why am I explaining it? You already know what I’m talking about.”

“You’re fine,” Yeosang says, “So what’s up? It seemed like you wanted to ask me something?” 

“Oh, yeah, right. I have a meeting with the new people who took over my project about where it’s gone so I can get back on the team, in like, an hour. But I kind of took an Uber here because I still don’t have a car and I didn’t want to bother my friend at something like near midnight,” the man says, sighing, and reaching up to run a hand through his hair. “So I kind of need a ride, if any of you would be cool with giving me one.”

“I came here on a motorcycle so your best bet would be with the lovebirds here,” Yeosang replies, grinning and hooking a thumb over at him and his fiance. Hwanwoong frowns at him, because one, rude, two: they don’t even know this guy yet. He could be dangerous. But then… Hwanwoong looks back over at the guy with his big eyes and hopeful look and sighs. 

“What do you do?” He asks, knowing he’s already given in, at this point. 

“I’m a research doctor. Pediatric cancer research, to be exact. Apparently the last data I sent before our plane went missing got to them in time and they were able to develop an experimental treatment based off of it that seems to be working, so I want to get back on the team and improve it further and be there to help if anything goes wrong,” the man says, getting this soft, wistful look in his eyes that has Hwanwoong smiling. 

“So, Dr.Strange, what’s your actual name?” Hwanwoong asks, and the man blinks, expression morphing into one of mild surprise. 

“Why Dr.Strange?” He asks, mumbling like he can’t help himself from asking, and Hwanwoong laughs. 

“You’re a doctor, and, so far, you’re a stranger. Dr.Strange,” Hwanwoong explains, and feels Youngjo elbow him in the ribs for that one. Hwanwoong shoots Youngjo a pout, who simply murmurs, “You deserved that one. That was horrible.” Hwanwoong pouts some more and Youngjo looks away, and Hwanwoong smiles wide in victory. 

“I didn’t even hit you that hard, you baby,” Youngjo sighs, and Hwanwoong laughs, before looking over to the doctor, who’s smiling a little and Hwanwoong counts that as his second victory today: getting this anxious doctor to smile. 

“My name is Keonhee. Lee Keonhee,” the doctor tells him, and Hwanwoong nods. 

“My name is Yeo Hwanwoong, and this is my fiance, Kim Youngjo. That’s Redacted Yeosang,” Hwanwoong introduces, and Keonhee laughs at the way he’s chosen to introduce Yeosang.

“Why is my last name redacted?” Yeosang grumbles, and Hwanwoong shrugs. 

“I don’t remember your last name,” Hwanwoong replies, honestly, and Yeosang scoffs. 

“You could have just let me introduce myself. My last name is Kang,” Yeosang says, glancing over at Keonhee, who smiles at him. 

“Nice to meet you guys,” Keonhee says, and Hwanwoong nods. 

“Likewise,” Youngjo tells him, and then the sound of someone speaking through a megaphone cuts through the room. 

“If I could have your attention please,” Hongjoong says over the megaphone, and the crowd quiets. “Your police escort is here. Anyone that would like to leave please get up in a calm and orderly fashion and meet the police officers by the door.” 

The crowd gets up all at once, slowly shuffling over the door, where Hwanwoong manages to spot Wooyoung and one other, taller officer that looks weirdly familiar. 

“Does he ever get a day off?” Hwanwoong mumbles, and Yeosang looks up from where he was looking at Keonhee. 

“Who? Hongjoong? No,” Yeosang tells him, and Hwanwoong laughs before shaking his head. 

“No, Wooyoung,” Hwanwoong says, and Yeosang laughs. 

“Oh yeah, he does, but because of the situation I’m betting all the officers are working overtime as they try to figure out what the hell happened,” Yeosang tells him, and Hwanwoong frowns. 

“Oh, I didn’t think about that,” Hwanwoong says, and Yeosang shrugs.

“It is what it is,” Yeosang says, and then glances back over to Keonhee. “Besides, we still have to figure out what we’re gonna do with Keonhee over here.”

“We’ll take him,” Hwanwoong says, and then frowns as he considers Yeosang driving back on a motorcycle. “We’ll also take you.”

“Man I have my motorcycle-,” Yeosang starts, but Hwanwoong shakes his head. 

“Do you really want to go through all the media on a motorcycle?” Hwanwoong asks, and Yeosang frowns. 

“Oh my god, fine. Let me tell Hongjoong so he can do… something with my motorcycle,” Yeosang says, before getting up and stalking in the lieutenant’s direction, who’s already glaring at him with irritation. 

“So, where do we need to drop you off?” Hwanwoong asks, and Keonhee sits up a bit straighter. 

“KQ General Hospital, if that isn’t too far out of your way,” Keonhee says, and Hwanwoong’s eyes widen. 

“That’s not out of our way at all, considering that’s our destination too. Youngjo’s cousin is in the hospital right now. The one that was on the flight with me,” Hwanwoong explains, and Keonhee’s eyes widen before his expression turns worried and sad. 

“Really? I hope he turns out to be okay. Do you think it has anything to do with the flight so far?” Keonhee asks, and Hwanwoong shakes his head. 

“Apparently he’d been affected by whatever it is before the flight as well,” Youngjo says, “I’m just hoping it’s not anything too serious.”

“If it does turn out to be something serious, let me know. I may be able to help, either myself or by connecting you with a colleague who can,” Keonhee tells them, and Hwanwoong smiles. 

“Thank you,” Hwanwoong says, means it, and Keonhee laughs. 

“No problem, we miracle passengers have to stay together, right?” Keonhee says, conspiratorially, and Hwanwoong laughs. 

“Definitely,” he replies, and Yeosang chuckles as he walks back over. 

“You’re collecting other passengers like Pokemon at this point, Woong,” Yeosang comments, and Hwanwoong laughs. 

“Gotta be friends with them all,” Hwanwoong murmurs, and Youngjo elbows him in the gut again, just a little harder than last time. Hwanwoong dramatically reacts by coughing and sputtering and gagging through Hongjoong’s announcement that the next escort will be leaving in a minute. He only shuts up when Youngjo pulls him to his feet and plants a kiss on his forehead, which has him melting. 

By the time they reach the hospital, Hwanwoong already has Keonhee’s number just in case something else happens and they need to discuss it (“Or just to talk, if you want,” Keonhee had also said, nervously smiling before turning and disappearing into the hospital doors they’d dropped him off at). 

“I need a phone,” Hwanwoong huffs as they find a parking spot close to the entrance they need to go into. “I wonder if Hoseok is available.”

“Geonhak’s been wanting to see you, why don’t I call him and ask if he has time to take you?” Youngjo asks as he pulls into the closest spot they’re gonna get with how big this SUV is. Hwanwoong turns excitedly to Youngjo, making him jump as he’s shutting the car off. 

“Can you? I want to see him too,” Hwanwoong says, starting out excited and getting progressively less so as he starts to worry. “But… what if-,”

“No what ifs, Woongie, Geonhak’s been dying to see you and you know how he gets when he’s denied something he wants. Whiny. Like a five-year-old. Here, call him and see,” Youngjo says as he rounds the car, handing his phone to Hwanwoong. 

Hwanwoong shakily opens the phone (it’s still the same password, which makes him happy) and starts calling Geonhak, who is still labeled ‘Muscle Chick’ in his contacts. Hwanwoong had changed it to that while drunk one night a year or so ago (for him), and he’d thought Youngjo just kept forgetting to change it, but he’s glad that it seems like Youngjo likes the name. 

It rings a few times, each ring feeling like an eternity and Youngjo all but drags him through the hospital halls to Dongju’s new room that Hwanwoong still has yet to see. He’s distracted by that for a moment, but it’s enough for him to miss that apparently Geonhak picked up because suddenly Geonhak’s voice is whining in his ear. 

“Hyung! How is Peanut and Xion? Mostly Xion, I heard he’s in the hospital from Hoseok. Hoseok, hyung!” Geonhak complains, and Hwanwoong chuckles. Geonhak’s voice is a bit deeper than he remembers, but that’s alright, because he still sounds very much the same. 

“Hi, Geonhakie,” Hwanwoong murmurs, “I hear you’ve been whining for me?”

“Hwanwoong-hyung!” Geonhak exclaims, voice going up a bit in his surprise, and it almost sounds like how Hwanwoong remembered it. He coughed, and then repeated, “Hwanwoong-hyung! It’s really great to hear from you. Is Batman-hyung done hoarding you all to himself?”

“B-Batman-hyung?” Hwanwoong asks, and Geonhak sucks in a breath on the other end of the line. 

“It’s what I started calling Youngjo after you disappeared. His producer name is RAVN, which is a bird, and he was brooding all the time for a while. Kind of like batman. So Batman-hyung it was. It’s just kinda stuck and I’m not sure why,” Geonhak explains, and Hwanwoong’s heart hurts at the image of his sunshine Youngjo brooding in the dark waiting for comfort that never came. 

“Well,” Hwanwoong says, trying to move past that particular fact but storing it away in his memories for later, “Batman-hyung is done hoarding me all to himself, and I need your help, so it all works out.”

“Will there be any exploding planes?” Geonhak asks in a near whisper, so quiet Hwanwoong almost doesn’t catch it. 

“Um, no,” Hwanwoong says, “not this time- wait how did you hear about that?” 

“It’s all over the news hyung, they’re showing the security camera footage and you can just see a group of people by the fence just watching it happen,” Geonhak tells him, and Hwanwoong sucks in a breath. 

“That’s not ideal,” Hwanwoong says, and clears his throat, “Anyway, I needed a ride to go to the store to get a phone. You in?”

“Of course, I’ll be there in thirty at the main entrance,” Geonhak exclaims, and hangs up. Hwanwoong smiles as he hands the phone back to Youngjo. 

“He’s on his way,” Hwanwoong tells him, and Youngjo smiles, slipping his phone in his back pocket with one hand and reaching for Hwanwoong’s hand with the other. Hwanwoong easily takes it, and lets himself be led the rest of the way to the room. 

To his surprise, when they get back, the twins aren’t alone in the room, and are instead talking with the doctor from earlier. Seonghwa. 

The doctor turns when the door opens, but turns back around when he sees it’s just them to focus back on whatever Dongmyeong is going on about. “Look, I’m just saying, they could’ve cast the role better, not that the actor they chose was horrible.”

“I think he did a great job, and they cast it just fine,” the doctor returned, smiling like he couldn’t help it. Hwanwoong tried to keep himself from laughing when he noticed it. Dongmyeong did tend to have that effect on people– of getting people to talk and then invested in a conversation. Hwanwoong met Dongju’s eyes when he’d finally sat down, and Dongju just smirked and rolled his eyes. “I just came in to see if you two were back, honestly, so we could discuss the last batch of test results, but your nephew roped me into talking about movies.”

“He does that,” Youngjo chuckled, and knocked his shoulder against Dongmyeong’s, who just pouted and shrugged. “There’s no getting him to stop.”

“I have a friend like that. Several, really,” Seonghwa answered, laughing, “So I may or may not be entirely too easily roped in.”

“Same here,” Youngjo replied, “plus I have this one here. I can’t escape it.”

“Oh please, my conversations with you are gifts,” Dongmyeong huffed, before looking back at what sounded like a game on his phone. 

“You mentioned some test results to discuss?” Hwanwoong pipes up, and the doctor blinks, smile lessening. 

“Yes, right, thank you,” Seonghwa straightens, and then continues, “The last batch of test results all came back negative, so I think it might be time to start looking in a different direction.”

“What- what direction would you suggest?” Hwanwoong asks, and Seonghwa sighs. 

“I think it may be time to start possibly looking towards something more serious than we have been. I’ve seen these symptoms and test results before back when I worked with the cancer research team here before your flight disappeared,” Seonghwa explained, and Hwanwoong blinked, stunned for a moment as only one word kept ringing through his mind. 

Cancer.

“Hey, I know that look, on all of you, but I promise while it is serious, cancer is not a life sentence, especially if it’s caught early enough. This hospital is staffed with some of the most qualified doctors to handle cancer treatments. You’re in good hands here, I promise,” Seonghwa continues, looking to Dongju with his last words. 

“Besides, nothing is concrete yet. It’s just a theory, but I’d like to run some tests just so that if it is cancer, we can catch it early and ensure that you’ll be able to live a long and happy life.” It falls silent as they mull over what the doctor has said.

“I understand,” Dongju says, breaking the silence and surprising Hwanwoong by speaking up first. “Thank you for bringing the possibility up, and for looking out for me.”

“That’s my job. I just wanted to prepare all of you for the possibility, and so I could ask permission to pursue the tests necessary to figure out if it truly is what I’ve begun to think it could be,” Seonghwa says, and Hwanwoong nods, finally starting to escape from the weight that hearing the word cancer had placed on him. 

“Wait,” Youngjo says from beside him. “Why are you still our doctor if you’re an ER doctor?” 

“I was just filling in for one of my colleagues who was out sick. The hospital really just uses me in whatever way they need, but I was able to get myself assigned to Dongju, so now I’m his main doctor,” Seonghwa explains, and Hwanwoong looks over to his fiance to find the man nodding. It looks like he’s about to say something when his phone goes off. Without looking at it, Youngjo reaches into his pocket and hands it to Hwanwoong, who takes it wordlessly.

He zones out from the conversation as he reads the notification on the screen: a text from Geonhak saying he was waiting outside the main doors. 

“How do you get to the main doors from here?” Hwanwoong asks, and then glances around to gauge the reactions of those around him, sure he just interrupted something. Youngjo smiles at him, fondness in his eyes. 

“I can just take you, I was about to leave to put those tests on Dongju’s schedule, anyway,” Seonghwa says, and Hwanwoong nods, glancing over at Youngjo again, who just nods and shrugs, still smiling. 

“You’re fine, love, Geonhak here to pick you up?” Youngjo asks, and Hwanwoong nods, handing his phone out to him. “Well then, we’ll see you in a bit. Please try to come back with a new phone and not just Geonhak.”

“If I have to come back with a prepaid flip phone, I will,” Hwanwoong promises, and Youngjo laughs.

“I’ll hold you to it,” Youngjo says as Seonghwa stands and begins walking to the door. 

“If you have any trouble or start feeling like you did before your collapse again, please don’t hesitate to use the call button. If I can’t come, one of my capable nurses will,” Seonghwa says, and then motions to Hwanwoong to follow him out, who does so easily. 

“Thanks for leading me out of here,” Hwanwoong says once the door to Dongju’s room has closed behind them. The taller man laughs. 

“No problem,” Seonghwa says. “How is Hongjoong doing? If my understanding is correct, you saw him earlier today? I haven’t been able to talk to him since your flight landed because he’s been so busy.”

“He looks tired and he’s definitely stressed, but he doesn’t look horrible. I think he’s doing okay. Wooyoung and Jongho are probably taking care of him, and even Yeosang in his own way, probably,” Hwanwoong tells him, earnestly, and Seonghwa chuckles. 

“Oh, definitely. He probably annoys him whenever he does manage to make it home,” Seonghwa comments. 

“Why would Yeosang bother him at home?” Hwanwoong asks, and Seonghwa laughs. 

“Yeosang lives with Hongjoong, and his fiance, Mingi, at the moment. We all tried to chip in to keep the apartment for as long as we could but we couldn’t hold onto it. Mingi and Hongjoong ended up with most of Yeosang’s stuff at theirs, so when he came back, we all agreed it would be best if he stayed with them,” Seonghwa says, and Hwanwoong’s jaw drops. 

“Hongjoong and Mingi are engaged?” He asks, and Seonghwa stops walking as he doubles over laughing. 

“Sure- sure are,” Seonghwa says in between bouts of laughter. Once he manages to get himself together he continues. “They’ve been together for a long time.”

“Wow,” Hwanwoong murmurs, and Seonghwa nods as a lobby area comes into sight. 

“Alright, here’s the main entrance. If you continue forward and look to your right, you’ll see the doors,” Seonghwa says, and Hwanwoong nods. 

“Thank you, again,” Seonghwa moves to shake his head, but Hwanwoong continues, “No, not just for this, but for everything. I don’t usually trust doctors this much, but I really do trust you. Please take care of my nephew-in-law.” He bows, bending in half, out of the pure gratitude he feels that he has to show somehow. 

“Please don’t, it’s really nothing,” Seonghwa says a moment, later, clearly stunned. 

“Please accept my thanks,” Hwanwoong says, and hears Seonghwa sigh. 

“I accept it,” Seonghwa says, and Hwanwoong rises up out of the bow, “but I don’t deserve it.” Hwanwoong tries to bow again, but Seonghwa catches him. 

“Really. Please save your thanks,” Seonghwa says, and Hwanwoong sighs. 

“Fine, but you can’t stop me later,” Hwanwoong says, glaring at him playfully. Seonghwa laughs. 

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Now go get a phone. I get the feeling that you tend to run off a lot, so please get the phone and stop giving your poor family heart attacks whenever you turn up missing,” Seonghwa teases and Hwanwoong sticks his tongue out at him before turning and waving at him from over his shoulder. 

The only car parked outside the main doors is a black sedan, and Hwanwoong hesitantly walks over to it. The window rolls down as he does, and almost as soon as his hair appears, Geonhak is waving at him excitedly. 

“Oh my God,” Hwanwoong murmurs, walking faster before he has a chance to yell out the window. 

“Woongie-hyung!” Geonhak screams excitedly when Hwanwoong gets halfway there, “Woongie-hyung! You’re just as short as I remember!” Hwanwoong starts sprinting at that, getting in and shutting the door and rolling the window up as fast as he can before turning and hitting Geonhak hard on the shoulder. 

“You little shit! I am _not_ that short!” He all but screeches. Geonhak just laughs. 

“Get your seatbelt on, hyung, we’re going shopping,” Geonhak says, and laughs as Hwanwoong hits him again, but does begrudgingly put his seatbelt on. 

It doesn’t take them very long to find a good quality phone that isn’t extremely expensive, and Geonhak helps him turn it on and set it up over lunch in the mall’s food court. Hwanwoong sighs happily into his pizza, and then promptly stops eating when he realizes Geonhak hasn’t touched his food and is just looking at him.

“What?” Hwanwoong asks, and Geonhak looks away as his cheeks flush red. 

“Nothing. It’s- I’m just happy you’re alive,” Geonhak says, like it’s everything and like it’s no big deal at once and Hwanwoong’s heart breaks. 

“Geonhak, if I’d known this would’ve happened, I would’ve never volunteered for the later flight,” Hwanwoong says, quietly, and feels so small. He hates it. Geonhak shakes his head. 

“You couldn’t have known. I’m just happy you’re back,” Geonhak says, equally as quietly. “I didn’t mean to kill the fun outing mood. Let’s go back to the food. If you come back hungry Youngjo-hyung will take my head off like a Barbie doll.”

“I’m fairly certain he couldn’t,” Hwanwoong says, snorting at the image. 

“Yes! I made you laugh! Mood returned,” Geonhak says, pumping his arm in victory. Hwanwoong snorts again. 

“Aaaaand mood lost,” Hwanwoong teases, and Geonhak pouts before stuffing his face with pizza. 

Once they get back to the room (after lots of wrong turns and talking with the occasional entirely too friendly nurse for directions) Geonhak decides to stay and talk with everyone for a bit, and by the time he has to go, Dongju looks a lot happier. 

For that, Hwanwoong is grateful to his friend. Geonhak certainly hasn’t changed a whole lot (and Hwanwoong is also grateful for that). 

They spend the rest of the day helping out and giving space as employees come and go to take different samples and readings off of Dongju, who takes the whole thing like a champ, even laughing a bit at a joke Dongmyeong made while he was having his blood taken. 

Dongmyeong hasn’t left his side once if he hasn’t been explicitly told to, and Hwanwoong is strangely proud of him for being there. He knows Youngjo feels the same by the way he smiles to himself every now and then when he’s looking at them and Hwanwoong’s looking at him. 

He finds himself doing that a lot lately. Watching Youngjo because he’s starting to realize he almost lost him. That he almost couldn’t look at him everyday, all the time, whenever he wanted to. 

He almost lost Youngjo. And that- that absolutely terrifies him. 

They do end up having to leave when visiting hours are over. Now that Dongju is an actual patient of the hospital– not just in the ER– Seonghwa leads them out with reassurances that he’ll be just fine and “Calling him on FaceTime isn’t against the rules.” When Youngjo walks off into the parking lot to pull the car up to pick him and Dongmyeong up, Hwanwoong turns to Seonghwa, and bows ever so slightly before righting himself again, just as quickly. 

“I don’t deserve such displays. I’m just doing my job,” Seonghwa says, but there’s a hint of a smile on his face. 

“You’re helping my brother in any way you can, and I appreciate that very much, Doctor Park,” Dongmyeong says, bowing just as Hwanwoong had. “Thank you.”

“You’re- you’re welcome,” Seonghwa finally says, and sighs. “I’m staying on call when I go home tonight to sleep, just in case anything happens. I live right across the street, so please rest knowing I will do everything in my power if anything does end up happening.”

“Thank you Dr.Park,” Dongmyeong says, again, just as Youngjo pulls up with the car. 

“Again, no need, but go off I guess,” Seonghwa says, a hint of a smirk on his face. Dongmyeong immediately blanches, making fake gagging noises. 

“Oh my God, please never say anything like that ever again, oh my God,” Dongmyeong groans, before nodding once again and turning to get in the car. Hwanwoong shakes his head after the boy. 

“Rest well, Dr.Park,” Hwanwoong says, and Seonghwa smiles. 

“You as well,” he returns, before turning and walking back into the hospital. 

They’re quiet on the way back, listening to the radio that’s on quietly. Hwanwoong has his hand gently on Youngjo’s thigh, just to reassure himself he really is here. 

Hwanwoong sleeps in one of Youngjo’s big hoodies and curled half on top of and half around the man himself, who showers him with kisses all over his face and shoulders until Hwanwoong can’t hardly keep his eyes open any longer. 

“Love you,” Hwanwoong manages to get out right before he falls asleep. He thinks he heard Youngjo’s sleepy chuckle and response before he succumbs to sleep, 

They’re back with Dongju as soon as they can be, and come in quietly. They talk quietly for an hour or so before Dongju wakes up. 

“How long have you guys been here?” Dongju asks, and Dongmyeong immediately goes over to fuss over him. Dongju grumbles, and tries to bat him away for a second, but eventually gives in. 

“Just for an hour, give or take a few,” Dongmyeong replies, and Dongju’s nose wrinkles. 

“You guys should’ve gotten more sleep. I would’ve been fine on my own. I feel fine right now,” Dongju says, and huffs when he meets everyone’s amused glances. “You’re all a lost cause.”

“Ah, don’t say that, Dongju,” Youngjo said, “You may still be able to train us yet.”

“I hate every single one of you,” Dongju said, smiling like an idiot. 

“Your smile says otherwise,” Hwanwoong all but sings, and Dongju’s smile turns into a barely held scowl. “Love you too, Xionie.”

“You-,” Dongju starts, but cuts himself off when a knock sounds on the door. “Come in,” Dongju calls, and Seonghwa walks in, looking hurried. 

“Sorry for the mess I must look. I went straight down to the labs when they told me the first few test results were in and then came straight here,” he says, sounding it too. 

“You, um, could’ve taken your time. I’m not, uh, dying, am I?” Dongju says, sounding unsure at the end. Seonghwa shakes his head. 

“No, especially not now that we’ve caught it early.” 

“Caught what early?” Dongju asks, sitting up straighter. 

“You have leukemia.”

* * *

Keonhee hates meetings like these. His specialties lie in formulating treatments, lining up test runs, finding patients to participate in those test runs, and collecting data to correct the treatments. 

Of course, this meeting is about finding patients. But Keonhee hates the way they’ve changed his system. Now they decide who to accept into the treatment programs, instead of accepting patients based off of urgency. 

They click onto the next slide after unanimously deciding to accept the last patient. The picture on the screen doesn’t necessairly catch his attention, but the note on the profile does. 

It reads : Passenger of Flight 828, just diagnosed by Park Seonghwa. 

Keonhee immediately sits up straighter. 

“Accept him,” Keonhee says, mind going back to the other passengers he met, and how the one had a family member (and fellow passenger) in the hospital. This must be Hwanwoong’s fiance’s nephew. 

“No, he’s too much of a liability for the program. Who knows what his data will look like, with his circumstances,” the new head doctor says, almost immediately after Keonhee. 

“This is a child we are talking about. A child who should have his full life ahead of him, and you’re going on about him being a liability? So what? If his data is off we note that! We let the world know that his data was omitted because of his circumstances,” Keonhee shoots back, voice hard. 

He doesn’t usually do this, but he has to repay them somehow. And there’s just something that tells him he _needs_ to get this boy accepted into the treatment program. 

Like when he knew he had to get to the plane, but without the image. 

Maybe because the image he needs to see is right in front of him. 

“I will take full responsibility for his treatments. Accept him,” Keonhee says, with an air of finality, and the new head doctor begrudgingly nods.

He leans back in his chair and zones out for the rest of the meeting. When they’re finally _finally_ done, he fishes his phone out of his pocket and shoots off a text to the number Hwanwoong had given him. 

He wants to deliver the good news to them himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's a lot of characters from manifest i still don't have idols for... what groups/idols would you like to see in this fic?
> 
> i decided to try and get this ready for the 25th as a gift to my readers, even those who don't celebrate christmas! happy holidays y'all! uwu


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